In this paper, Indigenous and local understandings of the role of storytelling for children (nthanu) are contrasted with the didactic understandings of children's stories that permeate the formal education frameworks of Malawi; frameworks which are deeply entangled in a colonial and (post)colonial history. For Chitonga speakers, the majority of…

Spirituality is impossible to define, but numerous, common themes can be discerned. I suggest a model of spirituality based upon the oeuvre of Julia Kristeva, the Bulgarian/French philosopher, semiologist, and psychoanalyst. She is an atheist who has a great respect for belief. Her therapeutic work reveals compassion and a desire for the creation…

This study identifies language specific errors made with transcoding tasks to inform possible future pedagogic decisions regarding the language used when teaching early number. We compared children aged 5-7 years from Kuwait and England. The spoken Arabic language of Kuwait gave the opportunity to compare not only languages where the tens and…

Studies of language evolution in the lab have used the iterated learning paradigm to show how linguistic structure emerges through cultural transmission--repeated cycles of learning and use across generations of speakers . However, agent-based simulations suggest that prior biases crucially impact the outcome of cultural transmission. Here, we…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of four different models (bifactor, CTC(M-1), CTCU and unidimensional) as to optimal model selection when the wording effect associated with negatively worded items was present. A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted to compare model-data fit and accuracy in parameter estimates…

Schizophrenic discourse is characterized by thought disorder, or a lack of coherence, prompting substantial research into identifying and measuring the incoherent discourse of schizophrenics. Much of this research has examined short extracts of elicited spoken data and used researcher judgments. This study examines the connectedness of…

The graphic novel "Invisible" (2022) by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Gabriela Epstein demonstrates that adolescents can create a positive difference in the world and build friendships with people different from themselves. The novel's themes, nonlinear chronology, and innovative bilingual format make "Invisible" significant and…

This reflection on practice explores dehumanizing educator talk as an explicit topic within multicultural/diversity/anti-bias and anti-racist teacher education. Dehumanizing educator talk is defined as formal or informal conversation during which targeted individuals or groups are openly demeaned with offensive generalizations in the absence of…

This study explores the language habitus and practices in one Vietnamese immigrant family in Melbourne. It contributes to research on family language policy in multicultural contexts. Using a Bourdieusian framework to explore the interrelationships between language beliefs, practices and management in a nuanced way, the article discusses how the…

This article engages speculatively with Rachel Tonkin's award-winning work of children's literary non-fiction "Leaf litter: Exploring the mysteries of a hidden world" as a potential text for study in the primary or secondary literacy/English classroom. It considers the affordances and issues that may accompany teaching this text, and the…

There is a long-standing gap in literacy achievement between African American and European American students (e.g., NAEP, 2019, 2022). A large body of research has examined different factors that continue to reinforce performance differences across students. One variable that has been a long-term interest to sociolinguists and applied scientists…

I examine the ways in which words such as "evidence" are used inappropriately to support policy that may be formulated for convenience, cost or political dogma. I interrogate the processes by which this happens, as words and terms are bestowed with symbolic power to support and promote favoured policy. I examine the ways in which such…

This article offers an original ethnographic documentation of employability schemes targeting migrants in contemporary Italy. It argues that analysts' current theorisations of time and space compression do not help us understand the multiple temporalities that migrants are subjected to when crossing borders, including those of labour market…

Attitudes are learned and one's personal experience and social environment play a role in shaping them. Teachers in particular exert a significant impact on the formation of students' language attitudes. This study targets prospective teachers. It is a replication of a survey whose data collection took place 18 years ago in the Basque Autonomous…

The current article applies interactional sociolinguistic discourse analysis to interviews with three parents of Ukrainian families living in New Zealand to further complexify what we know about Family Language Policy (FLP) and language transmission. More specifically, this article theorizes what we call "Aspirational FLP"--when the…